The present invention relates to improvements in an adjustable seat supporting assembly adapted for use in vehicles. More particularly, the present invention is concerned with the assembly for adjusting the position of an automobile seat by movement thereof relative to an automobile floor.
In automobiles, it is a common practice to adjust the seat position with respect to the base floor. For this purpose there have been proposed a lot of adjusting assemblies such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,669,398 issued on June 13, 1972 and U.K. Pat. No. 1,389,189 published on Apr. 3, 1975. Although these conventional assemblies are satisfactory as far as the primary purpose of adjustment and support of the seat position, they are complicated in structure and relatively large in size. More specifically, according to the conventional assemblies, a rotatable latch member provided with notches is pivotally mounted on the automobile set whilst a detent member adapted into and out of engagement with the latch member is pivotally mounted on the stationary bracket. The operation of a manual lever to which the detent is operatively connected causes the pivotal movement of the detent so as to bring the detent into or out of engagement with the latch member. Alternatively, the detent is slidably mounted on the bracket. The operation of the manual lever causes the detent to slide along an appropriate guide member, thereby to engage with or release from the latch member. In summary it is a conventional practice to rotate or slide the detent for engagement with the latch member by operation of the manual or handle lever. As a result, it is necessary to provide pivoting or slide - guiding means on the conventional assemblies so that the assembly is complicated as a whole and considerably high to be fitted in the limited space between the seat and the floor as evidenced in the aforementioned patents.
It is, accordingly, one of the objects of the present invention to provide an adjustable seat supporting assembly which may overcome the disadvantages in the conventional assemblies. According to the invention, it is unnecessary to provide the pivotable or slidable detent as in the prior arts. The operation of the manual lever may result in engagement of the latch member with the fixed detent as well as in the rotation thereof for adjusting the seat position. The assembly of the invention is, therefore, simple in construction and very easy to fit within the limited space of the seat assembly.